Get ready for the inaugural Greenmarket Sandwich Smackdown! This fun, kid-friendly event hosted by the Greenmarket Youth Education Project, will take place on Saturday, September 8th at the Union Square Greenmarket, and will be an opportunity for kids ages 6 to 14 years old to show off their sandwich making skills and love for local food! Teams of kids and adults will be working together to shop for local ingredients at the Union Square Greenmarket to create the ultimate market-inspired snack. Kids and adults interested in forming a team to represent an organization, company or individual group can sign up here. View the flyer:

Greenmarket and GreeNYC will be promoting reusable bags with GreeNYC mascot Birdie at the Union Square Greenmarket at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 8. Stop by to meet Birdie and make a pledge to reduce the use of plastic. Birdie will reward individuals who pledge to make a difference with a reusable tote bag, perfect for stocking up on local produce. More: New Yorkers consume more than 5 billion plastic bags each year. Plastic bags litter our neighborhoods, depletes global natural resources and contribute to carbon emissions and climate change. Littered plastic bags can easily make their way to storm drains and then into our waterways. GreeNYC is the public education arm of PlaNYC, Mayor Bloomberg’s plan for a greener, greater NYC. GreeNYC works to educate, engage, and mobilize New Yorkers to rise to the challenges of reducing their energy use, living a more sustainable lifestyle, and shrinking the citywide carbon footprint--actions that are critical to achieving the overall PlaNYC goal of reducing NYC’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and improving the quality of the city’s environment. View the event flyer.